Hellspawn Odyssey Read Online Free Page A

you mate, I’m Kurt. That’s Paige, Sam, Gloria, Braiden, and Sarah, my wife.” Peter nodded to each of them. “And of course you have met Honey.” The dog barked at her new name and laid down, putting a paw onto Peters legs.
    “Pleased to meet you all, I’m Peter. That’s Debbie, we are engaged,” Peter explained. Kurt thought at least the zombie apocalypse had stopped the wedding. Debbie merely looked at them all with disdain. Kurt was having none of it.
    “Pleased to meet you too, Debbie.” He smiled sardonically and held out his hand once more, but she didn’t take it. He looked at Peter who gave an embarrassed shrug.
    “So how did you two end up at home together when it happened?” Gloria asked, trying to defuse some of the animosity that had fallen on the group. Debbie was still ignoring them so Peter took his cue.
    “Can you believe we had taken the day off to plan the wedding?” he laughed then quickly fell quiet when Debbie shot him a withering glare. It was plain to the group that the end of the world had not brought them closer together.
    “Well I think that’s romantic. Young love,” Gloria continued, sensing the atmosphere and trying her best to brighten the group.
    Sarah was concentrating on the route. They would soon be at the bend in the road that led through Emsworth, passing underneath a motorway and railway bridge before turning left at the roundabout that would take them directly towards the Barracks.
    “Shit!” she muttered upon turning the corner. Kurt came up to look through the windscreen and why she had cursed was obvious; hundreds had gathered under the concrete overpass, the road was thick with the dead. The group was lucky, the slow approach of Sarah had only revealed the front of the van to the horde and only a small handful broke away and began a leisurely stroll over for their meal.
    “So, what do we do now?” Sarah asked and looked at Kurt. John had pulled up and joined them at the driver’s door.
    “We try through Warblington or Southbourne. Warblington will be the fastest and the train gates are already broken.” John had heard the tale of their school escape.
    “Ok, we go through Warblington,” Kurt agreed and swapped seats with Sarah. John meanwhile returned to the Land Rover and turned around in the road. The small group had now grown into a tide of putrescence; the whole swarm was converging on the van, more appearing from the shadows of the dual bridges as they watched. Kurt wasted no more time and swung in a wide arc, mounting the pavement before dropping back onto the road to continue the journey.
    “Jesus, there were hundreds of them. Why were they all under the bridge?” Braiden asked. He still had a hard time speaking without coughing but it was getting better each day.
    “I don’t know, shelter maybe? I can’t see why they would need to, they’re dead.” Kurt was at a loss. They looked like the huddled penguins he had watched on the Discovery Channel, sharing heat from their bodies.
    Conversations ceased and Kurt concentrated on the task, the roads were clear apart from the occasional body or abandoned car. On small semi-rural villages like this it wasn’t a surprise. The real test would be if they needed to take a main road or motorway. Kurt prayed this wouldn’t be necessary, that the Army would provide sanctuary. The train station was ahead and the pile of electrocuted bodies had been churned up and strewn down the line from a passing train. They tried to avoid looking at the recognisable pieces, staring at the passenger platform instead, which had a lot of zombies on either side, waiting for a train that would never come. They passed the school and it was even more sinister than they remembered; the dark, empty classrooms and echoing corridors haunted Kurt’s waking thoughts, probably as a result of what he had witnessed inside. The family felt for each other, Sarah squeezed Kurt’s arm, Gloria did the same to both Sam and Braiden,